SF guard awarded $465K in harassment suit

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A San Francisco jury has awarded more than $450,000 to a Muslim security guard who claimed he was called a terrorist and al Qaeda by co-workers and supervisors.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/wh5c8Y) that the superior court jury on Monday added $400,000 in punitive damages to its verdict in favor of Abas Idris. The jury had earlier granted Idris $65,000 for alleged lost wages and emotional distress.

The 27-year-old Idris said he quit his job as a security guard for Los Angeles-based Andrews International in February 2010 after the company failed to take his complaints about harassment seriously. He had served as a guard at the Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio.

Madonna Herman, an attorney for Andrews, said the company had promoted Idris to a supervisory position. Andrews plans to appeal the verdict.